i have the rules and i have started playing a Scifi game with the starship rules. I am not too sure about some of the rules like equilibrium and some of the backgrounds give you amazing bonuses like +2 fighting. but it looks promising.

CA and FM are the crunch, and they stand alone and on their own two feet (spines?)

TL (The Lantern) draws them both together and plays to the strengths of each. I was typesetting the 'demo adventure' that will ship with High-Space, checking page references, and I think there was a 50/50 split of references to the CA and to the FM.

So, you can use the Fleet Manual to add starships into any other SW campaign. It only references the core rules.

Likewise the CA only references the core rules and can be used for what it brings to the table (notably edges&hindrances, sythetics, glanding, computer rules, equipment & weapons, and rules for XS+ vehicles (which I have had great feedback on).

However, The Lantern is 'tied' to the other High-Space books. I had to think hard on that choice, but in the end i decided 'why write all these cool mechanics and never reference them?' So the Lantern is full of XS+ and starship action, plus the other crunch... plus one or two 'extra' mechanics that I saved just for that book ; )_________________StoryWeaver Games
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I noticed that the first two books mentioned are included in the beta release on Drive Thru RPG. How much longer until the full game is released? Will people who purchase the beta be allowed some kind of discount on the final product?

The plan is for the Final release to happen real-soon-now. I would say end of November at the absolute latest.

Yes, the Beta purchases will get a hefty discount ($5 instead of $15) on the final release, which will have updates of the first two books. It's a bit crazy, but the best discount is to buy the Beta and then buy the Final with the discount!